Healthy Eating: Chicken Pesto Pasta + Simple Cabbage Salad

Hello blogosphere! I'm still here. =) My apologies for being MIA for a while.

Anyways, I am back with a vengeance, este, with recipes -yes plural! That thing that kept me from blogging, had kept me from cooking too. Its been quite a while, I missed them both terribly. Thank God for this Sunday (I have a lot to thank for!), am glad for some "me" time. =)

Awryt, awryt.. so here's my come back post.

For a little background... Sunday lunch is the best meal of the entire week -that's one of the traditions of our lil family started. And because of that, Sunday lunch has become the most thought of and anticipated meal of the week.

Friday, when I told hubby that we will have Pasta today on Sunday. I planned to use the few left over ingredients from last New Year's Eve cooking for our Pasta Sunday. Then, Sunday came, I opened our fridge and realized, we had an "abundance" of Cabbage too. That's were I though, I should do a combo of pasta and salad. *wow, this is my first combo feature.


So, the Chicken Pesto Pasta..

This has been one of my go to Pasta recipe when I have palates to satisfy but I don't feel like trying something new. The other go to Pasta is of course, the staple in every Filipino home, the spaghetti.


You'll Need:

You choice of Pasta. Cook according to "manufacturer".

The left over ingredients -All Purpose cream and Pesto sauce mix + Onions and Garlic

Oregano, S&P
*late sa pictorial na si Basil and  Boneless Chicken Breast

~I had to add dried Basil because I only have 30g Pesto mix and it won't be enough for a 500g Pasta.
~My original recipe didn't Oregano in it too. I just experimented with before and discovered that it would add tang and sweetness to the mixture. Since then, I have been adding it, but it won't hurt the flavor if its absent though.

You'll Do:
Slice the Chicken Breast into long strips and saute them together with the onions and garlic until the Chicken is lightly browned.
Add a cup of "pasta stock" (the water you used to bring your pasta to life).
Prepare the Pesto mix according to manufacturer, add them to the chicken and bring them all to a simmer. Once you can see little bubbles, lower the fire and add the All Purpose Cream.
Add a teaspoon of Oregano and Basil. *I used more basil for this though since again, I am a bit short of Pesto mix. Taste it and if you feel like it, add more S&T.
Lastly, add the Pasta and mix them well.

Tip: White sauce based Pasta tends to look dry and actually dry up quicker than tomato based ones so always have a little more extra white sauce.

Now, for the Cabbage Salad..

This is a simple salad of Cabbage, Carrots and Red Bell Peppers tossed in Mayo, All Purpose Cream and Oregano. Pretty, right? =) It's a refreshing variety to the richness of the Pasta.

Enjoy!!!

xoxo